During a weekend, not so long ago, my sister and I took a drive into the hills on a warm sunny day. We had a favorite place in mind.
As well as being featured in one of my favorite films, There Will Be Blood, Greystone Mansion is incredibly beautiful.
The place felt like it was ours alone.

As you've surely seen, tilt-shift photography is an amazing visual trick that implies tiny miniature scenes. Buildings appear as small as doll houses and people look like little ants. At times it's downright cute. The opening scenes of my childhood favorite show, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, come to mind. Ha!

Last year, illustrator/photographer/blogger, kris atomic did a fine example of tilt-shift. Her pictures of Iceland were insane and her occasional use of tilt-shift was magical. To me Iceland has always been an otherworldly place and I was so happy she took the viewer(me) there. What other country could have created unique musicians/creatures likeBjörkandSigur Rós? <3 More stunning pictures from her trip to Iceland can be found here.

Now, what got me thinking about tilt-shift recently was this amazing video. As intrigued as I have been by tilt-shift, for the most part I'm kind of over it. However, the other day I came across a video of the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, that was created by two filmmakers. It is awe-inspiring, crazy, and really well done. The festival itself is like a combination of Halloween and New Year's Eve. They really know how to throw a party! Now I might have to try this effect with my photographs!

After spending a lazy afternoon in Santa Barbara, we moved on to our next stop on my sister's birthday itinerary...
Mini golf by the beach! We arrived before the crowds came(it was a Friday) and practically had the course all to ourselves :)
Everyone has to lose their golf ball at least once during the game...I think it's a rule ;)
Am I in Southern California or a resort in Hawaii?
Palm trees were everywhere.
Donald aims his ball towards the Spanish Mission.
We fed them.
The decor and themes were pretty over the top as you can see. We loved it. After our game, we headed inside for some good old-fashioned arcade fun.
I played a car race game first. This was by far my favorite I've played, since it was accompanied by Japanese characters talking to each other and then turning to me to ask, "if I wanted to race".
I lol'd about 10 times.
Of course I accepted their challenge.
And made them eat my dust. I didn't realize that Val and Donald were watching me the whole time. I was far too focused to notice anyone but my Japanese opponent. Haha.
Then we went to Val's favorite sushi place. This is her garlic and sesame-seed edamame. So good.
We shared sushi. Nom.

After our long(but nice) day out, I went home. To summarize, I had a picnic in a Spanish courtyard, walked inside a stunning courthouse, went to the beach, played mini-golf near the ocean, and had sushi. It was a good day :)